As long as we are talking about 486/586 etc stuff I'd like to ask a simple
question. The knowledge base certainly seems to be here. 

Provided someone has significant money invested into vlb equipment and
doesn't significantly overload the ram and Disk pathways what is the best
way to shoehorn more processsor speed into a single ziff-socket 486
motherboard?
Cyrix/AMD/??? 

Compatible with NetBSD of course.



On Sat, 25 May 1996, VaX#n8 wrote:

> Date: Sat, 25 May 1996 19:09:56 -0500
> From: VaX#n8 <vax@linkdead.paranoia.com>
> To: "Michael L. VanLoon -- HeadCandy.com" <michaelv@HeadCandy.com>
> Cc: Jim Rees <rees@umich.edu>, port-i386@NetBSD.ORG,
>     vax@linkdead.paranoia.com
> Subject: Re: cyrix 
> 
> I'm a little backlogged in my email
> 
> In message <199605150446.VAA28268@MindBender.HeadCandy.com>, "Michael L. VanLoo
> n -- HeadCandy.com" writes:
> >A 5x86 is a "486-class" chip in the sense that it uses 486 hardware.
> >It has a 32-bit external data bus, and plugs into a 486 socket on a
> >486 motherboard.  It uses 486-generation support chips.
> 
> You're right here.  Don't be fooled by the misleading marketing XX86 crap.
> 
> >Simply put, a 120MHz Pentium motherboard will run significantly faster
> >than a 120MHz Cyrix or AMD 5x86, and it has a lot more potential for
> >growth.
> 
> Yep.  Unix is certainly I/O intensive, and fairly memory intensive, with
> not very good localization.  You're gonna want fat pipes to memory and
> disk, and a 486/5x86 just isn't going to do as well as a Pentium-class
> mboard.  Okay, an ASUS 486 with interleaved memory and a PCI bus isn't
> anything to sneeze at, but starting afresh you'll want something with a 
> better upgrade path.
> 
> >If you're going to buy a PCI motherboard, you might want to take a
> >good hard look at whether you can afford to go up to the next 33x MHz
> 
> Some chipsets (like the SiS) can lock the PCI bus to 33MHz, running it
> async from the memory/mainboard bus.
> 
> Also, if you're gonna get a Triton, get the Triton II... now called the
> 430HX; it supports ECC/parity and is pennies more.  Of course, you're talking
> about fairly new tech here, so there may be bugs to work out, and you are
> giving Intel money and helping them squeeze chipset manufacturers out of
> the market, but... them's the breaks.
> 
> Note that the Intel 430HX won't run the PCI bus async; why should it, when
> Intel can force you to buy a faster CPU?
> 
> That having been said, I like mine :) 100MHz+16MB+430HX < US$600
> 

Alaric,           | Archery: A deeply seated hatred of paper with bright
Mka Brandon Reed  |  coloured circles printed on it.
reed@engr.orst.edu|
http://www.engr.orst.edu:80/~reed